Disseminated fungal infection in a renal transplant recipient involving Macrophomina phaseolina and Scytalidium dimidiatum: case report and review of taxonomic changes among medically important members of the Botryosphaeriaceae

Abstract

We report the first case of human infection with the fungal plant pathogen Macrophomina phaseolina in a Sri Lankan-born Canadian man following a renal transplant in India. The patient subsequently succumbed to invasive infection with Scytalidium dimidiatum. Molecular sequence analysis confirmed the identification of both fungi and revealed that they are related species within the ascomycete family Botryosphaeriaceae. We review the rationale for the recent reclassification of S. dimidiatum as Neoscytalidium dimidiatum and of Nattrassia mangiferae (formerly considered a synanamorph of S. dimidiatum) as Neofusicoccum mangiferae. This and other recent cases illustrate the potential for plant pathogenic fungi to cause invasive human diseases which are refractory to antifungal therapy.